Walker Center

Location: Salt Lake City, Utah
Use Case: Offices & Lobbies
Design Style: 20th-century skyscraper architecture modeling the Chicago School approach with elements of the Second Renaissance Revival style
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Walker Center images courtesy of Captured by Court

Custom Split Flap Specs

Size: 20 ROWS x 24 COLUMNS
Dimensions: 70.5″ x 124.2″ x 5″
Finish: Classic Black Sheet Metal Casing
Font and Text Style: Oat Foundry’s Standard Font with 6 Custom Color Flaps
Add-ons: Standard Portal Software
Installed: 2024

Project Overview

The seasons paint Salt Lake City with dramatic contrast. With winter comes a blanket of white snow across the streets, while summer stretches out dry and golden beneath a relentless sun. Among these rhythms stands the Walker Center, crowned by its iconic weather tower. First installed in the 1940s, the weather tower flashed color-coded lights to announce the forecast, serving as a daily beacon for the city. In 2021, its upgrade to a full LED spectrum renewed that glow, allowing the tower to shimmer with animated displays and celebratory colors, as captivating today as it was generations ago.

Inside, the Walker Center lobby now holds a 20 x 24 Split Flap display (thanks to architecture firm Modern Outwest and Vectra Management.) The analog design features kinetic flips and bold blocks of color, the installation mirrors the tower’s bold colored signals. As the tower flashes forecasts, the Split Flap flickers with imagery, messages, and pixelated art. The tall, narrow proportions of the display even echo the tower’s silhouette.

Framed by polished marble columns and set against a dark backdrop, the Split Flap is large enough to command attention from anyone entering, yet complements the aesthetic of the lobby rather than competing with it. It toggles between useful information, such as welcoming visitors, sharing building events, and even displaying weather conditions, while sharing abstract patterns and pixelated portraits generated through Oat Foundry’s Pixelator tool. This balance of practical updates and fun imagery ensures the board is always in motion.

Integrations and Extras

The Walker Center Split Flap doesn’t just display words — it transforms images too. With Oat Foundry’s Pixelator tool, anyone can upload a photo and watch it reimagined as a grid of bold, kinetic pixels across the board. Each image takes on a striking, modernist quality as it flips into place. Whether it’s a portrait, a skyline, or abstract art, the Pixelator turns everyday images into dynamic, ever-changing displays that serve as a modern-day “screensaver.” The Pixelator and Oat Foundry’s Portal, our web-based app, manage the content displayed on the Split Flap, do not require a subscription and are available for free.

Installation and Activation

Oat Foundry is proud to offer on-site Split Flap installation anywhere in the world. Like all of our installations, the build of the Walker Center’s Split Flap started with its frame. Engineered to position the display seamlessly on the wall, once secured into place, individual modules are added one by one, each slotting neatly into place. This modular approach not only ensures perfect alignment and reliability but also allows the display to be assembled with care and craftsmanship.

Press and Media

The refresh of the Walker Center’s lobby has given the building new life, inspiring fresh attention to this historic landmark. Earlier this year, the Walker Center launched a rooftop tour that has been making headlines — FOX13 spotlighted the experience, elevating the building’s iconic status alongside the Salt Lake Temple and City & County Building. The Salt Lake Tribune described the view as “the best spot in the city,” where the Salt Lake Valley stretches like paint across a canvas and city sounds blend into a cinematic tapestry. Inside, the Split Flap extends that same sense of spectacle, giving visitors another reason to rediscover the Walker Center as a place where history and creativity converge.

Current Use

Aside from a polished aesthetic, the Split Flap at the Walker Center delivers friendly messages, from welcoming visitors to sharing building event details, or even displaying weather conditions. The board also has a playful side, flipping into pixelated art or patterns. By alternating between practical updates, interesting imagery, and analog design, the Split Flap matches the fast-paced energy within an office lobby. Similar to the rest of our boards, the Walker Center also has access to preloaded content templates in Portal, including movie trivia, fun facts, sports updates, and more. 

Together, the weather tower and the Split Flap embody the Walker Center’s colorful spirit. The tower continues to flash its colors across the Salt Lake skyline, while the Split Flap flips its messages within the lobby below. Two distinct technologies, decades apart, yet united in purpose: to delight, inform, and ensure this landmark remains alive with energy for generations to come.

To learn more about how offices and lobbies can benefit from a Split Flap display, visit our industry page. Ready to start your journey with Oat Foundry? Book a demo today!